


Melting Point

by MissisJoker



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry and Len being idiots, Caitlin and Cisco being Barry's awesome besties, Harrison Wells being a dick, Lisa being BAMF, M/M, Mutual Pining, accidental meta!Len, canon-compliant until right after 2.10
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-16 01:24:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5807884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissisJoker/pseuds/MissisJoker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Zoom's plan to make the Flash faster doesn't go as fast as he wants, he decides to speed things up.<br/>Captain Cold is caught in a crossfire, which results in unforeseen consequences for all the parties involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a native speaker and I'm waaay out of practice, so if you see a misspelled word, a grammar error or a Master Yoda speech pattern, let me know.

_Oliver Queen was right, the hero never gets the girl, no matter how unfair to the hero or the girl that is._

Barry should’ve told Patty about the Flash. Should’ve followed Iris’s advice and confessed about everything the night he saved her from the Turtle; she deserved as much. But he couldn’t.

And not just out of fear for her safety or her reaction.

When Patty left Central City, Barry did some soul searching (again), and realized he has been lying to himself (again), and to her. She was perfect: beautiful, smart, funny, brave, and actually wanted to be with him, for a change. And yet, he didn’t want whatever they had to become a serious commitment.  It wasn’t because of his love for Iris, no- it was because deep down, in the murky depths of his honor-deprived soul, Barry knew that he rushed into Patty’s arms for one single reason- to prove that Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, was wrong.  

The realization hit him hard, and Barry barricaded his shame behind the wall of nonchalance.

Caitlin noticed.

As usual, the good doctor demonstrated an uncanny ability to read right through the mask Barry so carefully constructed and look straight into his soul (that talent of hers was so terrifically effective it was borderline telepathic, and Barry wondered from time to time if she, too, has been affected by the explosion). Since denial and arguing was pointless, Barry threw in a towel and told her everything, including his repulsive secret about the real reason of trying to date Patty.

By the time he finished his confession, Caitlin looked like she was about to flip a table. 

Both Barry and Patty were consenting adults, they both had a good time and enjoyed each other, but it didn’t work out. That’s all that was to it.  As for Thawne…Who in their right mind would believe a murderer and a stalker who victimized them for years, when he tells them they will never be happy right before he is about to die?

Caitlin’s rationale was sound and glare so stern that Barry believed her, and felt better. At least until he got a brilliant idea to go and ask Gideon, if the AI was still operational, about the future.  

 

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for him, it wasn’t. The Reverse has taken out it’s operational core, leaving only a small metallic carcass behind as a reminder of all the power and knowledge that was so close, so palpable, and yet so out of reach.

“Well, at least I won the argument.”

“Lack of proof of things yet to happen can’t be considered a winning argument. Listen,”

“No, Caitlin, it’s all right. I didn’t want to believe it but now I see it- Thawne was right, I am never going to be happy. I’m in love with a person who doesn’t want me and I don’t think I will ever stop loving her. I’m doomed to waste away my days alone and miserable.”

Back patting stopped as Caitlin turned him around to face her.

“I am pointedly ignoring the doom part because the whole idea about believing that homicidal maniac is beyond ridiculous.” – Her chocolate curls bounced off her shoulders as she shot him a thunderous look; then her expression softened,

 “As for Iris, Barry, you grew up together, she is your family, she is your best friend. She may reciprocate your feelings in the future, just give her time. She lost a person she loved and needs to heel, and that...that takes time."

Caitlin's eyes never left Barry, so deep and warm and so full of sadness...But then it was gone, like clouds after the rain, and Caitlin was smiling again.

"No matter what happens in the future, whether or not you and Iris get together,she will always be in your heart, just like Ronnie will be in mine. She is your first love, but that doesn’t mean she is going to be your last. You are smart and handsome and brave, although… your punctuality needs some improvement.”

Barry snorted, and Caitlin flashed him a smile, cupping his cheek, as he leaned into the touch,

“I am certain you will find your love one day.”

“Why such an outburst of affection.”

“It’s just an unbiased scientific observation, that’s all.”

 “Well, it doesn’t look like I am about to get lucky in love any time soon, does it?”

“May be that’s because you are trying too hard. Most often than not people find love when they least expect it. Your fairer half might just be waiting for you around the corner.”

Caitlin opened her arms and Barry let himself melt into the hug.

_I wish I could just stay like this, cocooned in her arms. Feels like a splash of sunshine in the raging thunderstorm of my misery…_

“We should do this more often. Ouch,” Barry winced in a mock pain when Caitlin slapped him on the arm.

Crackling on Barry’s comlink broke the silence,

 “Guys, you need to come up here, right now.”

“Cisco, what is it?”

“Someone just tripped an alarm in the Central History Museum receiving dock. Oh, wait, I am reading sudden fluctuations in temperature.”

 Pause, rustle of paper, sound of something hitting the floor and keyboard clicking, then,

“Barry, I think it’s Cold.”

“I’m on it.”

 

*****

 

“Snart!”

The Flash skid to a full stop as Captain Cold strolled around the corner of a pile of wooden crates, dressed in his signature parka, with the cold gun strapped to his thigh. And, as usual, he looked like he was in his own warehouse minding his own business and had every right to do whatever he was doing there.  That sort of self-confidence left Barry smoldering every time.

The Flash was still trying to figure out the relationship he had with Captain Cold. To call it friendship would be way too far of a stretch, but it wasn’t pure enmity either- more like a…somewhat mutually respected impasse. Which, for some incomprehensible reason, Barry found completely unsatisfying.

Was it the challenge? The thrill of a chase? Barry’s stubborn conviction that there was good in Snart? Or fact that Snart was the only adversary who could outsmart the Flash if he set his mind to it?

“Barry! Why so…” Snart seized him up and made an indecipherable gesture with his hand, “Sour? Someone kicked your puppy?”

“No, my girlfriend broke up with me...”

“Condolences.”

Snart spun on his heels and resumed throwing crate lids onto the floor and digging through the straw inside them.

“..and on top of that turned out the love of my life is going to marry my namesake, and not me.” Barry chocked as soon as words left his mouth.

_Whoa there, blabbermouth, why are you sharing your private life with Snart of all people? Deciding not to participate in a plot to kill you doesn’t make him your BFF overnight. Unbelievable…_

That made Cold stop and tilt his head, “So, your girlfriend and the love of your life are two different people? And _I_ am the bad guy?”

Barry felt the blush creeping up on his cheeks, and he ran his hand though his hair in a futile attempt to curb his embarrassment.

Cold waved his hand dismissively and smoothed himself through the row of crates, wrecking havoc along the way, “Sorry, no time for a chat, I’m on a tight schedule.”

“I’m not here to chat, Snart.”

“ _No_? Want to join then?”

“What? No!”

“Then why are you here? You can’t interfere, we have a deal. Unless you’ve got cold feet.”

 “No, the deal still stands. I was just…” Barry tried to come up with a witty comeback, but his brain must’ve short circuited, and Cold never gave him a chance to recover.

“Didn’t think this through, did you?”

_You smug bastard. You frustrating, impudent, self-centered bastard. I will not let you win this, not today._

Barry straightened up, lowered his voice to sound as menacing as possible and shot a dirty look to Snart’s retreating back.

“May be I’m just having a bad day and decided to let some steam off.”

 The Flash froze as soon as his words left his mouth.

_“Letting steam off” has a double meaning, you know. Should’ve clarified I just want to fight and not to bone him. And after openhearted confession about failed relationships Cold is definitely going to think i have hots for him. Just frigging brilliant, Allen, stellar performance._

To his relief (and disappointment) Snart pointedly ignored him. Then,

“Hold this.”

Barry eyed a weirdly-looking clay vase that Cold just pushed into his hands. Small, elliptical, greenish, with strange ornaments and molding around the edge that looked somewhat like a dragon biting his tail. It even smelled funny.

Barry felt like throwing hands in the air and screaming in anger. He slammed the vase on one of the boxes and breathed in lungs full of air, preparing to do just that, when Cold stopped in his tracks and turned around, pointing a finger at the plate, “that is Qin,” then at him, scolding, “be careful.”

Barry deflated.

“Wha..the…who…Are you even serious?! Wait,” – Barry’s brain cells finally turned on to full capacity. He was in the Central History Museum. The current year 2016 was officially devoted to the exploration of great Chinese culture, with a new exhibition of rarest artifacts scheduled to open next week…Then it hit him.

 “Qin as in 2000 BC Chinese dynasty Qin? Oh my god,” he took a few cautionary steps back, bumped into a ladder next to the wall that immediately fell onto the very crate cover he put the vase on, and sent the said vase airborne. The Flash sped up just in time to catch the vase 2 inches from the ground; he could feel a droplet of sweat slowly trickling down his forehead.

 Barry breathed out, put the vase back into the crate and tried to look innocent.

Snart arched an eye brow.

“Didn’t think you had a soft spot for antiques.”

“I don’t. But the destruction of a 2000 year old relic will warrant an FBI involvement…”

“..which you are trying to avoid, of course.”

Cold sauntered through the maze of crates and boxes, Barry tracing his every step.

“Why can’t you just stop robbing places?”

“Why don’t you stop working for the police?”

“You know, there are other occupations.”

“Like what, _saving people_? Ah, there it is.” Snart dug up a plate out of a pile of wooden shavings, twiddled it in his hands for a moment, scratched the surface a little and hummed in satisfaction. And then, with one swift motion, smashed it into the floor.

The plate shattered with a zing as Barry yelped in candid horror,

“You broke it!!”

“Relax, kid, it was a fake. This, however,” Snart’s long fingers dug through the debris until he held his arm up, revealing a huge blue diamond glistening in the light, “is genuine.”

_A diamond inside an ancient artifact? But how did Snart know about it? And wouldn’t be a rare 2000 year old artifact just as valuable as the diamond?  Wait, he said it was a fake. A smuggling ring then! Hm, that’s actually genius- with items this old and this important, customs would expedite, just to make sure nothing happens to them while in custody. No one would think of breaking one to see what’s inside._

The alarms blared through the building and Len shot Barry a smirk, “Nice seeing you.”

He rushed out and to the backdoor exit, Barry keeping up two steps behind. He didn’t even know why he followed. To do what, stop Snart? That wasn’t the option. Talk to him? Just watch him escape?

When they came down into the adjacent garage, Snart came to a full stop and turned, lips pressed into a thin line and eyes cold, calculating, threatening.

“Stop following me.”

Barry opened his mouth to respond when he saw- no, when he felt it - static in the air, an electric charge that made his hair stand up, a blue bolt zipping through the shadows.

 “Snart.”

Cold put his hand on the gun,

“I don’t like to repeat myself…”

“Snart!”

He was too late.

Zoom swept right by him, grabbing Snart by the throat and throwing him into the wall. All Barry could do was stand there and hopelessly watch as the other man slid down to the floor, unconscious.

“Long time no see”.

Deep voice sent a chill through Barry’s bones, right down the spine to the spot where Zoom broke it, and it shot up with a phantom pain.  Copper taste of blood in the mouth, sickening sound of his own bones breaking, suffocating pain as the lungs were collapsing…Barry’s body healed itself a long time ago, and yet, Barry remembered his last run-in with Zoom all too well.

Every last detail of it.

And he hated himself for that.

Fear was the best weapon, and Zoom was damn good at using it.

A barely audible rustle snapped Barry back to the reality. It was hard to see without turning, but Snart was definitely moving. Or at least, trying to.

_Cold is still alive. Good, that is good, I can work with that._

Barry took a few steps to the side, carefully, placing himself between Zoom and Snart. The Flash would do whatever dance Zoom had in mind for him, take as many blows, stall as long as he could just to give Snart a chance to escape.

Only it wasn’t going to be that simple.

“I have a present for you, Flash.” Zoom’s palm opened, revealing a sphere glowing purple in the dim light of the garage. Barry tensed in dreadful determination; he wasn’t an engineer, but he recognized a bomb when he saw one.

“Try to outrun it, or save your friend here. The choice is yours.”

And just like that, Zoom was gone.

Barry sped up, watching the bomb fall down through the air in a slow motion. Catching it before it ignited and running away from the center of the city seemed the best course of action, until he saw that there was no fuse in it. And no timer. Only one type of bombs didn’t need one or the other- the one that exploded on contact.

Barry accelerated faster, scooping Snart up in his arms and rushing towards the exit.  Unfortunately, he lost precious seconds examining the bomb, and what time he had left wasn’t enough to make it far.

 _Cling_.

 A clear metal sound of the sphere hitting the concrete told Barry their time has run out.

 Barry made his last step and threw Snart as far as he could, and then the bomb exploded.

First came the light, iridescent and blinding.

Second, the sound- a deafening roar rolled through the garage and echoed over and over as a thunder, blasting the glass and making Barry’s brain boil.

And then came the shock wave, ripping through Barry’s body, throwing him off his feet and propelling him into the scaffold.

 

*****

 

Regaining consciousness was like trying to emerge from the bottom of a lake, up and up, slowly, through the dark, murky water.

How much time has passed since the explosion? One minute, five minutes, ten? Barry couldn’t tell; all he could feel was a vertigo even though he was lying flat on his face.

He took a moment and listened in to the sounds.

_Low hum, wood crackling in the fire, sirens in the distance, someone else’s groan of pain._

_Snart._

Barry’s eyes flew wide open and he immediately regretted it, white flies blinding him and almost making him gag. Barry shut his eyes tight, took a deep breath and opened them again, slowly, giving himself time to adjust to the light. Once the world stopped spinning and came more or less into focus, Barry rolled on his side, and, pushing up on his arms, looked around.

 Half of the garage was gone, the roof and the outer wall blasted all the way through, doors torn off the frames, bearing columns cracked and crumbling. Torn wires everywhere, showering the floor with sparks; smoke sipping through the walls and creeping over the ground.

_The fact I’m still breathing must be nothing short of a miracle. But where’s Cold?_

Finally, Barry was able to make out a figure in the corner.

Snart was leaning against the bearing wall, clutching to his side. The gun was gone (did he still have it when Barry grabbed him up from the floor? Barry wasn’t sure), parka was smoldering, forgotten, in a pile of rubble. Barry couldn’t see the full extent of the damage, it was too dark and already too smoky, but he still spotted glistening of the blood on Colds’ fingers and a dark stain growing dangerously fast beneath them.

The man looked at Barry for a moment, as if evaluating, then slowly rose to his feet and stumbled out of the wreckage, holding the wall for support.

Barry made an attempt to stand up but knees buckled under his weight and he collapsed back on the floor. The sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder as the emergency vehicles rushed closer to the blast area.

_Less than five minutes after the explosion then. Right…Firefighters first, then the paramedics, and then the police. No, I can’t stay here this long. Have to go. Now._

The Flash gathered up the remains of his strength and sped outside of the garage and into the alley. The comlink was likely fried but he tried nonetheless, as his breathing came out in short painful hitches,

“Guys, I don’t think I am making it back to the lab on my own…”

Barry’s world faded back to blackness the same moment the comlink went online, bursting into a chorus of voices worried sick.

 

*****

Len smashed the car window and staggered inside, cursing and hissing in pain. One live wire, two, a spark, and the engine rumbled in a low comforting hum.

He shut the door closed and leaned on the steering wheel, shivering, palms sleek with cold sweat, heart beating erratically. The searing pain in his side somewhat subsided, and he wondered if he was getting numb from the blood loss.  Len groaned and pulled his shirt up.

Cuts and lacerations were bleeding profoundly, pulsing out streams of blood that pooled down under his belt. The whole right side was strewn with grey metal smithers, and a glowing blue shard sticking out right from under his heart.

He new that glow; the shard was what was left from the gun’s cold-generating chamber.

He had to get to Lisa, and fast.

Another hitched breath came out of his mouth as a tiny cloud of steam.

Len startled.  Was Mardon nearby? Last time he checked, the weather-wielding prodigy was rotting away in a prison…

_Stop bleeding out first, worry about the weather later._

Len pressed the gas pedal into the floor and sped away from the ruins just in time to escape three police cars rushing to the scene.

Forty six seconds later the steering wheel frosted over under his touch.


	2. Chapter 2

“How exactly does exposing him to a near lethal dose of gamma radiation fit into your plan to steal his speed?!”

Doctor Wells paced, wiping a streak of sweat trickling down his eyebrow, while Zoom loomed a dark imposing shadow in front of him. However evil and impulsive Zoom was, whatever atrocities he felt like doing on any given day, he was never prone to such irrational lapses of judgement.

“The exposure will trigger a further mutation in his cells, making him faster. And the more speed he has…”

Harry paused in realization,

“More there is for you to take…Only there is no guarantee he will actually get faster. You might as well have killed him. “

The sharp jabs in Harry’s voice were left unnoticed. Zoom stood still, unperturbed, watching Dr Wells run his hands through his hair and fix the glasses only to rip them off a moment later. Then he produced a vial with scarlet red liquid and Wells froze,

“Velocity 9…”

 “You will inject him tonight.”

“I won’t.”

The dark figure’s head tilted slightly, black eyes narrowing, and air filled up with static.  

Wells threw his arms up in defeat,

“I can’t! His cellular structure is unbalanced on sub-atomic level. I cannot inject him with the serum, there is no way to tell how he is going to react!”

“Perhaps, I should be more clear.” Zoom’s voice still echoed through the half-empty warehouse when he already sped back, holding Jessie by the throat. He paused for a second, waiting for Well’s brain to catch up, and when Harry gasped in recognition, Zoom’s hand squeezed harder until the girl started choking.

Harry moved towards them but halted in one step. Zoom lifted his daughter up just enough to force her to balance on her toes to keep herself from strangulation; she was desperately grabbing on his hand but the grip of black leather-clad fist didn’t falter.

“For every day the Flash is not injected, I will cut off one of her fingers. Once she runs out of the fingers, I’ll move on to something more… valuable. “

Wells heard his own voice break, quiet and shallow, “No, please don’t hurt her, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“I will not ask again”.

And in a flash of blue, both Zoom and Jessie were gone.

 

***

 

“What are you doing?”

The syringe disappeared in Harry’s hand as Cisco arched an eyebrow and made his way to Barry’s bed.

No matter how many times Cisco told himself that _this_ Wells was not _him_ , not the Reverse, not the man that lied to him for years and ripped his heart out, he couldn’t bring himself to trust Harry. Not completely.

Harry’s general douchery of the character didn’t help the situation either.

“Taking more blood to run additional tests. We can never be too cautious when dealing with Zoom.”

Barry twitched under the sheets and slowly opened his eyes, blinking in disaccord.

“How long was I out?”

“Three years. “

Bright greens almost doubled in size and Cisco chocked down a giggle, only to be savagely slapped away by Caitlin,

“Francisco Ramon!” She hurricaned past him to Barry, eyes blazing and hands full of gadgets,  

“Don’t listen to him, you’ve been unconscious only for 6 hours, and mostly because I gave you a powerful sedative.”

Barry was immediately checked out, pinched, poked and blinded by the tiny flash light Caitlin always carried in her pocket. He made a weak attempt to fight her off but capitulated,

“Ugh, please, I am fine.”

“You are not fine. You’ve gotten burns, bruises, two broken ribs and a serious concussion. That is not fine.”

“Ok, ok, I’m not fine. But I’m already healing. See, my bruises already begin to disappear. Ouch, well, maybe not that one. Ugh, did you find out anything about the bomb?”

Cisco moved back into his field of vision, almost vibrating with excitement,

“Dude, that thing packed some serious punch, the blast took out half of the parking lot and part of the museum’s wall. You’re lucky you’re still alive.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Barry rolled his eyes, “Anything else?”

“Well, my gamma radiation sensors went off the charts. It was the same sort that affected you on the night of the Accelerator explosion, just of different intensity, and by that I mean…”

“Prolonged exposure.”

Cisco pouted as Harrison Wells strolled back into the room, instantly drawing attention on himself. Damn if that asshole had a commanding presence.

 “Imagine if you want to break a glass bottle. You can throw it into the ground and it will smash into pieces. In this case however, you are not smashing it, you are slowly grinding it into the concrete one grain at a time.”

“Thank you, mister let’s insert a colorful allegory when it is not needed. I was just about to explain it in plain English.”

Some other time it would’ve been entertaining, but now Barry didn’t have strength nor desire to watch the unravelling battle of wills and wits.

“Oh, so Zoom doesn’t just want to kill me, he wants me to suffer as long as possible? How very considerate.”

“There might be another reason. Zoom is obsessed with speed; maybe he was trying to come up with a way to increase his speed force and...”  Caitlin didn’t finish, looking at Barry with outmost concern,

“Used me as a test subject? That kinda makes sense, I’m the only other speedster he knows about. Well, the only one who still has speed. But did it work though? I don’t feel any different.”

 Barry reached out to grab a glass of water Caitlin thoughtfully placed on the table next to him, but winced in pain. A torn muscle in his back immediately proved Barry wrong, sending a burning jolt of pain through his spine.

“Agh, well, sore, but not different.”

“The radiation didn’t alter your DNA, and your accelerated healing, the effects of the exposure could’ve been inappreciable, but… “

Cisco huffed, “I think we can officially rule out Zoom being a scientist. “

“If you could refrain from interrupting me for one second, maybe I could finish my explanation?”

Cisco shot Wells the dirtiest look he could master, but was ignored;

“Zoom put a great deal of effort in hitting you with that bomb, we can’t rule out that the true effects of the exposure whatever they might be are yet to manifest themselves. “

“Plus he might have a whole research lab of scientists he threatened into helping him.” Caitlin threw an apologetic glance to Wells, “Sorry.”

“Ok, continue research, I’ll join you later.”

Barry slid off the bed, wrapped the blanked around his privates and wobbled to the closet.

“Barry, where are you going?”

“To the precinct.”

“You can’t, you can barely walk!” Caitlin’s pleading tone almost made him reconsider, but the impending threat of new attacks and his wounded pride kept Barry on his feet.

“I’m not going to just sit here and wait until something else happens. I need to see if police had found clues we might’ve missed. May be I can find out what Zoom is really planning or what his next move will be. Don’t worry, guys, I’ll be fine.”

 Ignoring the collective look of worry and disapproval, Barry grabbed a spare set of clothes and made his way out.

 

***

 

“Barry! “

Joe’s voice boomed over the hall as the inspector zigzagged through the crowd. He threw his arm around Barry’s shoulder, making the younger man feel all of his not-so-healed bruises and wince in pain, but Barry kept his mouth shut and leaned into the hug.

“I thought you were staying in the lab to recover? I’m sorry, I was going to check on you but my hands were full with that bomb going off in the museum.”

“I’ll live. I’d rather be here searching for clues. Guys can handle the lab, and I need to go through the evidence, Joe. I need to know what he is planning.”

“Zoom?”

Barry gave Joe a short nod.

“The museum reported a break in into the receiving dock, several items were broken. Is Zoom going around pilfering art now?”

“Snart.”

Joe’s eyebrows arched up,

“Snart is working with Zoom?”

“No, he was pouching some contraband when Zoom attacked, he was just a collateral. I’m gona go check the reports, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, let me know if you need anything.”

Barry felt dizziness creeping up, slowed down and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to stop the world from spinning.

“Are you ok?”

Joe’s voice was dripping with worry, and Barry yet again was grateful for that,

“I will be, once I stop him.”

Finally, after walking up the stairs for what seemed to be forever, Barry stumbled to his table and sank onto the chair. His head was still buzzing, light flies popping up in the corner of the eye now and then. There was also this weird white noise in the background, barely audible, but irritating enough to make his skin crawl.

 Barry sighed and put the coffee cup Joe persistently pushed into his hand down, watching with contemptuous indifference as a brown circle spread over the white paper of the report. His conscience finally stirred in the back of his mind, and Barry picked the paper up, shaking it, but it only made the matter worse. He was about to curse at the existence when a sentence caught his eye,

 < _Two males were reported fleeing the scene, one was recognized by the witnesses as the Flash, the other one still unidentified. > _

Snart.

Snart had been hurt.

The parking lot was dark and full of smoke, but Barry saw the blood, he was certain of it. Although Len was able to hobble away from the area before the police came, the debris and the shock wave could’ve damaged the internal organs, possibly badly.

Barry stalled for a moment, drawing in a deep breath. Snart aka Captain Cold very smoothly and quite unexpectedly transitioned from “Snart” into “Len” sometime during that episode with Lisa and their piece of shit of a dad and cemented himself as the latter when he came to warn Barry about the plot to kill him.

 Surely, the feeling of _what, a friendship? Comradery? Gratitude for not trying to kill me again and again?_

Barry sighed; the feeling surely wasn’t mutual, but that didn’t stop him from caring- may be a little too much- about Len’s fate.

Barry suddenly wondered what would Cold say if he knew how Barry referred to him in his mind. Even better- how was Len referring to Barry in his mind? He did seem to favor “Kid”, and “scarlet…”

_More like pain in the ass_ , a voice with a familiar drawl supplied inside Barry’s head and the man couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

_He doesn’t have the speed healing…Or a doctor on standby. Could he check into the hospital? No, not after pulling a heist, he is too careful for that. A black site surgeon then._

Barry felt a lump form in his gut, a weird nudging necessity to make sure Len was ok.

_May be his police files have a phone number? Not that he would keep it once busted…I should’ve just asked._

_God, no._

_That would’ve been a limitless source for awful puns._

_“Why, Scarlet, asking for my number? How scandalous. Although you did pay for my dinner and had a questionable pleasure to meet my late father, as I did yours. What’s next, kid, wanna hold my hand?” “What if I did?”_

Barry startled, staring blankly in the space in front of him.

_I would never live that one down…_

He bit his lip and took as sip of the coffee, hoping that would clear the concussion fuzz in his brain.

_I bet Cisco has Lisa’s number…_

 

***

 “You are lucky I went to med school for almost a year.”

“Because you didn’t want to lose a bet. If you weren’t lazy you could’ve become someone more respectable, like a _doctor_.”

Lisa narrowed her eyes at Len a dirty look and pulled the last piece of debris from his side, pointedly slamming the tweezers onto the glass table with a loud clank.

“And leave you without back up? Because that’s working out so perfectly well for you right now!”

Ignoring Len’s disapproving sigh, she wiped the blood off her hands and reached for the needle.

Len took another swing at the bottle of whiskey to dull the pain and hissed as his sister made her way through the stitches. The disinfecting splash of alcohol burned so bad it almost made him numb, but it still stung like a bitch.

Len closed his eyes.

He always liked watching Lisa work, so careful and well-measured, each gesture calculated and precise; she got carried away sometimes, control swept away by the rush of adrenalin, but always cool-headed enough to finish the job. His greatest pupil, his pride.

Although right now he would prefer her working on someone other than him.

“I still think you should get to a real hospital and check it out. Or at least ask Caitlin from Star Labs to help. This might be much more serious than it looks.”

“Well, we’ve got Samuel for that.” Len nodded towards the wall, where a lab technician crouched behind a portable x-ray machine the Rogues commandeered from a local clinic an hour before, fingers flying over the key board while throwing scared glances at Mick towering over him.

“It’s Steven,” the squeak the man let out was so pathetic, Len almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

“Sorry, Steven. So, what’s the prognosis?”

“No serious internal damage, all major arteries are intact. But I still would recommend to refrain from any strenuous activity in the next few weeks. “

“And painkillers?” Mick breathed into the man’s ear, making him shiver,

“I’m sorry, we don’t carry that sort of stuff. For security purposes…I only have ibuprofen.”

Len barked out a laugh, “I think I’ll pass.”

 “Can I burn him now?”

“No, Steven has been very helpful.” Len pointed a finger at Mick, tone cold and commanding.

“Tie him up and lock in the room in one piece.”

“This is no fun.” Mick growled, but complied, dragging the horrified tech away by his collar.

 Lisa dressed up the wound and started packing her emergency kit,

“There should be a stash at the pharmacy down the street.”

Mick slammed the door of the janitor closet shut despite muffled screams, then turned to Lisa and wiggled his eyebrows, “I’ll be back.”

The moment Mick was out of sight, Lisa leaned in, staring at Len until he looked up at her.

“Lenny, you should still ask the Star labs for help. With that… _other_ thing.”

“What, my new talent? I thought I thought you better, sis. That would be losing our tactical advantage.”

“Advantage? You really think it is useful? You think you know how to control it?”

 “I do and it is.”  

Lisa huffed,

“Fine then. Here, my beer got warm while I was patching you up. Cool it for me, will you?”

Len looked up at his sister and grudgingly accepted the bottle.  A moment later algid lather sprung from the tips of his fingers, clouded the bottle in a thin layer of icy dust and crystallized into an intricate pattern of frost.

In the dim light of the room it looked like a placer of diamonds.

_I might’ve just learned my best trick yet._

Lisa finally breathed out,

 “Wow.”

She grabbed the bottle back and twirled it in her hand. The pattern melted under her fingertips, but didn’t give her a frost bite.

Len smiled to himself,

_Just the right amount of cold._

Then she tried to sip the beer but nothing came out. Lisa tilted the bottle, shook it in her hand, but not a drop fell onto the table. She took a peek into the neck only to find that beer was frozen solid.

Len’s smile grew wider.

“Ass.”

Mick was back. He threw a whole pack of pills into Lisa’s hand and strolled closer to Snart,

“So, where are you going to get a new gun? “

“I don’t need one. The explosion…must’ve been some heavy gamma rays, just like when the accelerator went out. I think I am now like the Flash, just with a different talent. To suit my _cooler_ personality.”

“Ah-huh. So you’ve got powers, huh? And what exactly can you do?”

Len pressed his fingers into the glass table top and icy spikes rushed in five directions.

 “Oh, good, you can draw pretty flowers on the glass. I don’t see how that will help us to rob a bank!”

Len pushed down on the glass a little harder and it gave in almost immediately, cracking and crashing and into a pile of brittle pieces scattered all over the floor.

Mick’s eyes lit up with dark flames of excitement,

“Think you can do the same with steel?”

Len smirked.

 

***

 

Barry re-read the sentence for the third time, words and letters dancing drunken merry-go-rounds before his eyes; the coffee didn’t help. Not the first cup, not even the second.

_There won’t be a third. This brew won’t heal my head but give me an indigestion._

Barry’s stomach growled in agreement.

He shook his head a little and stared back into the paper, trying to focus, when he noticed that the unfinished coffee in his mug was shaking. He stayed still for a moment, wondering if he was imagining things when he saw his left hand vibrating in rising frequency. Barry put his other hand down on the rogue one in an attempt to stop it from trembling. The movement stopped, only to begin anew a second later, violently, sending pens and pencils bouncing over the table surface.

Barry rushed up, backing from the table and into the wall, his both hands thrilled into a blur no matter how hard he tried to stop himself. His heart was pounding like a sledgehammer, and the noise- that white noise in the back of his head suddenly overrun everything else around him.

He pressed harder into the bricks, terrified, when everything went white and he blacked out.

 A loud boom reverberated through the room, cracking the windows and sending papers and lighter furniture flying, a small sonic boom wreaking havoc on the lab while Barry was lying senseless on the floor.  

It took him a moment to pry his eyes open and pull himself up from the cement, shaking and sweating, right by the time when Joe and the Captain busted into the front door, weapons in hand.

“Allen, are you ok?”

“I think so…” Barry looked around, leaning into shelf to steady himself.

“Sorry, Captain, must’ve mixed the reagents in a wrong proportion.”

Captain groaned and sheltered his gun after giving Barry a head-to-toe evaluating look. “Clean it up, Allen, your lab is a mess!”

The moment the Captain left, Joe rushed to Barry’s side, helping him stand.

 “Barry, what the hell happened here?”

“I need to get back to the Lab, something is wrong with me.”

“What’s wrong, Barry?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry, I have to go now. Can you cover for me?”

“Yeah, sure… Let me know when you figure it out!”

Barry didn’t wait for him to finish, rushing out without looking back.

Joe just sighed to Barry’s retreating back,

“Dammit, son.”

 

***

 

“Irregular heartbeat, lightheadedness, dizziness, shivering, uncontrolled muscle tension and vibrations, what else?”

“Excessive sweating?” Cisco pointedly withdrew his hand and wiped It on his t-shirt.

“Thank you, Cisco.”

“It’s making you faster. You are undergoing same changes you went through after the accelerator explosion, only this time you are already is a speedster at the starting point.”

 “So?”

“So, the further the changes go, the faster you will become. But also, the more volatile the side effects will be.”

Barry, Cisco and Caitlin stared at Wells in sync.

“How volatile?”

“I don’t know yet; I don’t have a benchmark to compare it to. But I’d say, very.”

“All right, I urge you not to give in to panic, “

“Well, it’s a bit too late for that.”

“Cisco, please. Barry needs us.” Caitlin put her arm on Barry’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring look.

 “I’m sure that if we put all of our brains to good use we will figure something out. Let’s may be start with measuring your current speed. I wouldn’t approve running the test before you fully recovered, but…”

“We might not have that long to begin with.” Barry nodded and shuffled into the treadmill room.

 1400, 1500, 1700, 1800 – Barry kept running, topping his best yet record ever so slightly, when…

The white noise came back, making him shiver.

“His vitals are spiking.”

Caitlin pressed down the intercom,

“Ok, Barry, you can come down now.”

“I can’t.”

“What?”

“He’s about to go into a cardiac arrest, he has to stop.”

Harrison all but yelled into the microphone,

“Barry, did you hear me? You have to stop!”

“I can’t!”

Barry tried to stop himself from moving, but the control was lost, like he was but a shadow in his own body. He almost chocked with fear,

 “Guys, I can’t stop!”

 

1900, 2100, 2300…

 

 An image of the devastated lab flashed through his mind and Barry rushed away from his friends, out of the lab, out of the building and into the cloudy October night, heart pumping in his chest, head light with adrenalin.

He expected the world to spin, the vision to blur and darken, his legs to give out, but the noise in his head only grew louder and he ran faster.

 He half-expected to see himself- his other self, from the future- running alongside- right there, in a moment, when he crossed a time and space barrier. May be he would be able to change the past, to avoid the explosion, to stop Zoom.

But nothing happened.

He just continued to run in circles through empty city streets, setting off car alarms and sending leaves flying like a mini-tornado.  

Suddenly he felt running into a bubble of total silence and he stumbled and almost fell in surprise. But then the bubble burst, giving way to the noise, and he picked up the speed again, running until he was desperate to stop by any means necessary, gulping for air, tears streaming from his eyes, blood thundering in his ears. He saw a rundown building with exposed pipes and unfinished drywall ahead of him, when he suddenly felt the silence bubble again and let his speed drop.  

In situations like these you have to decide what is worse- a heart failure of a dozen of broken bones?

Barry aimed for the drywall, bracing himself for pain on impact, but when he was only a few steps away, he was ripped out of the speed force as if it never existed, and instead of crashing into the bricks in full force he stumbled through the door, propelled by residual – and almost normal human running speed.

He hit the opposite wall and the stack of tools and hardware attached to it. The crash hurt bad, but he suddenly was not vibrating any longer, he was not speeding up and his heart was beating slowly, normally, adrenalin gone in a split of a second. The noise was gone, and so was the haze that clouded his brain. His vision was clear as if he walked from a room full of steam into a crisp winter air.

Barry groaned and dug himself out of the wreckage, stopping when his sight fell onto a pair of black boots. He traced the boots up to nice long legs and even nicer thigs hugged very neatly by some black cargo pants, when…

Snart folded his arms and drew out, “Did you ran out of gas or something?”

 

***

 

 “Thanks for _dropping by_ , but your unannounced visits are becoming a pattern, one which I do not appreciate.”

Len wiped the oil off his hands and threw the towel on the table, lips forming a thin annoyed line, while Barry’s brain tried to comprehend two things- first, how did he end up running into Snart of all people in a city of half a million, and two, why didn’t he ever notice the curves of Len’s body, the lean muscle, the strength in all the right places... Not that Barry haven’t seen Len out-of-parka before, but this perspective from the floor up must’ve provided a better view.

Not that he was interested in Len’s body, that was a ridiculous idea because he was not, he was just being scientifically objective.

_Definitely the concussion talking…_

Barry’s gaze tripped on Len’s side, where the sweater was bristling and wrinkling. The medical gauze.

  _Of course…_

“You’re ok!” Barry inquired from his horizontal position. Then shook his head,

“I mean, are you ok? I saw you bleeding after the explosion.”

Something akin a genuine surprise flashed across Len’s face the moment before his usual Cold persona was back, “I am, no thanks to you I might add.”

Barry finally struggled to get up, flailing like a baby deer and cursing himself for a complete lack of grace in the worst possible situation. He could feel the weight of Len’s calculating gaze on him, and his suit suddenly felt very hot and very uncomfortable.

“Well, you were the one who left me there. What happened to your famous code, “never leave anyone behind?”

‘Never leave my men behind, and when exactly did you become one of my men?” Len arched an eyebrow at Barry and the speedster felt a sting of jealousy.

_He must’ve been perfecting that quirk for years._

 “I got blown up because of you.”

“I’m sorry you got caught up in the middle. Zoom doesn’t care about collateral.”

“Sounds like a cold-hearted bastard to me. Think I should introduce myself?”

“No, don’t. Just … “Barry spoke too fast, giving out his nervousness, but then jutted his chin forward, “Trust me, he is a monster.”

Len tilted his head and half-smiled,

“And who am I?”

“You are…you.”

Len gave in to urge to roll his eyes, “How elaborately eloquent.”

A mix of worry, anger and determination made Barry’s greens gleam in the dark; another night perhaps, Len would’ve given in and started a brawl just to shake the kid up, but he was tired, and the cut hurt as hell.

“Fine. Keep your buddy to yourself.  What’s up with the leather, by the way? Are you speed freaks in a secret BDSM society or something?”

Barry felt the heat creeping up the back of his neck, and found himself fiddling with the seams of his costume.

“No, it creates less friction with the air when I run, as you are well aware. But I guess there is no point in trying to be nice to you since you clearly have no inclination to hold a civil conversation.”

Somehow angry Barry gravitated closer to the other man, right up in his personal space. He always did- not on purpose, at least not this time, but out of a strong but unexplainable instinct. And Len, as usual, didn’t bulge even in a slightest.

 Instead, he tilted his head and gave Barry a sly smile, “I haven’t hit you with a wrench. Yet.”

Another bout of blush burned his cheeks as Barry eyed a set of heavy-looking wrenches gleaming in the dim light of the garage.

“Right…well, I guess I will be going.”

He shuffled around Len towards the door which was now hanging from its hinges, when a sharp _Allen_ stopped him in his tracks. He turned to Len only to see him nod towards the wreckage which once was a tool shelf, eyebrow arched yet again.

“Oh, right, sorry…” Barry sped up, putting everything in place, and returned to the door, wishing to finish the exchange, when a side of a car caught his eye.

“Is that limited edition 1991 GMC Cyclone V6 turbo?”

“ _Out_.”

“Ok, ok, I’m out!”

The moment the door closed behind Barry, Mick marched in with heat gun ready and a six pack of bear in another hand.

“What the hell was that?”

Len shrugged, face unreadable,

“I wish I knew.”

Mick eyed the door then turned back to his partner,

“The car?”

“Prepped and ready.”

“Good. Time to get busy.”

 

***

 

“This is bad. This is very, very bad. Your speed spiked almost 45% but that was a mere side effect of a change on molecular level. This is super bad.”

“How bad are we talking about?”

“Thermonuclear bad.”

“What?”

“What Cisco is trying to say is that your atoms pack much more energy than they did before, only your body isn’t adapting fast enough to balance the change. Soon, unless we figure something out, you will start vibrating so violently, you will…”

“Explode? I am going to explode?” Barry didn’t let Harry finish, voice catching in his throat

 “No, Barry, you won’t explode- at least not at first. But you will pass the energy from your vibration onto the atmosphere around you, and if…no, _when_ the frequency reaches a certain level, the molecules of the air around you won’ t be able to absorb the energy any longer and start decomposing. You will create a temporary vacuum around you, as the energy will push the air molecules outwards.”

“Oh my god, that’s what happened!”

“Barry?”

“At the precinct! I started vibrating and then everything around me exploded outwards, as if I pushed it away…”

“With the Force? Like a Jedi?”

“For a lack of a better description, yes.”

“Then your condition is progressing faster than I thought.”

“We need an antidote.” Caitlin looked at the men around her, lips pursed in determination.

“There is no antidote, you cannot undo changes that are happening on the molecular level.”

“So I’ll just hope I won’t suffocate anyone?” Barry sounded like he was about to cry. Or scream in horror.

May be both.

“Wait, you’ve said thermonuclear.”

“Well, creating a vacuum around yourself is only a beginning. If we don’t find a stabilizer soon enough, your molecular vibrations will create so much energy in the surrounding atmosphere, the atoms of the air will break Coulomb barrier and start a nuclear fusion reaction. We are potentially looking at a hydrogen bomb level of destruction.”

“Oh my god.”

“As I said, we need a stabilizer. Something that would slow down the volatile reaction in your molecules and give your body appropriate time to adjust.”

“What if you put me in a coma?”

“No, that won’t help, chemically induced coma only affects your brain, not your atoms.”

 “What about the Turtle? Could his power help?”

Wells shook his head dismissively,

“Slowing down your kinetic energy will rob you of the speed force but not slow down the vibration of your atoms. And considering that could be very volatile, we need you to be able to get away from populated areas as far and fast as possible. Turtle is out of the question. Or, whatever is left of him.”

 “What about cold? When I ran today I stopped and crashed at Len’s safe house…I mean, it can’t just be a coincidence?”

Harrison put his tablet down and stared at Barry,

“Explain”.

“Well, you said yourself that the universe in its physical manifestation is always seeking an equilibrium. And cold, from a thermodynamic point of view is a perfect opposite of the speed force, it is a slowing down of atoms movement until a total absence of vibration is reached.”

“The absolute zero.”

“Yes, so maybe I was drawn to the cold gun, you know, like to an anchor.”

“The gun’s blast is too concentrated to pull you out of the Speed force like that.”

Barry shrugged,

“May be it is malfunctioning.”

Cisco tsked and crossed his arms,

“That sounds crazy.”

“Actually, Allen might be onto something. We could use the gun to try and slow you down…”

“What, you want to freeze him?” Cisco’s voice dripped with sarcasm, and Wells retaliated with a jab of his own,

“Of course not, what a stupid idea. That would kill him.”

 “I won’t let that happen.”

Barry smiled sadly at the girl next to him,

“Cait, we might not have a choice. What if it gets out of control? Better fridge me than let me go off and kill thousands of innocent people.”

“No one is getting frozen to death. The energy of the gun’s core can be dispersed with a few alterations. It won’t turn you into an icicle, Allen, but might help slow your atoms down. But for that to work, I will need that gun.”

Caitlin shot Barry a questioning look,

“Do you feel strong enough to try and locate Snart?”

“Oh, guys, we don’t have to…”

Cisco pointed his finger to the big monitor on the wall,

“I think we just found him.”

“Is that the…”

“Central city bank? Yep, that’s Snart alright.”

“Barry, be careful. He won’t be too eager to part with his favorite toy.”

Barry clenched his teeth,

“I won’t exactly be asking.”

 

And then he ran.

 

 


End file.
